1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a collapsible shopping cart.
2. Description of the Related Art
A trip to the grocery store can be quite eventful, involving may steps and potential pitfalls. One example of the current grocery shopping experience may look like this.
The shopper first retrieves a store-provided shopping cart from the parking lot and, if inclined, cleans handle of the store's shopping cart. Not knowing the cleaning routines used to sanitize the cart or the hand-washing habits of previous cart users can lead to a week long bout with the flu, cold or other infection.
Once inside the store, the shopper chooses item(s) and bags item(s) (if in produce or meat section), placing the various selected items in the store's shopping cart. The shopper then removes the item(s) from cart at checkout line and places item(s) on the conveyor belt to be scanned. The scanned item(s) are then bagged by a store employee or by the shopper. The bagged item(s) are then returned to store's cart and the shopper pays the cashier.
The shopper then wheels the cart out of the store and to his/her automobile, where he/she removes the bagged item(s) from the store's shopping cart and places them in the automobile. The shopper then drives home and removes the item(s) from automobile and carries them into the house, condo, office or apartment building (often requiring multiple trips). The shopper then un-bags item(s), places the item(s) in storage, places the plastic bag(s) in the recycle bin or trashcan, or returns plastic and/or paper bag(s) to store's used-bag collection site.
This is a complicated time consuming process require multiple unnecessary steps. The above description illustrates potential pitfalls commonly experienced when depending on a store provided cart. One can imagine other potential pitfalls that arise when shopping at open markets, farmer's markets etc. where no cart or basket is provided to the shopper.
For those living in urban environments similar elaborate processes are encountered during the shopping processing. Still further, those living in urban environments often walk to the store and require their own cart for carrying goods between the store and their home. They also often have limited space to store such carts when they are not in use. There are also environments where shopping carts are not readily available, for example, farmer markets, and an easily transported cart would be highly desirable.